Stocks were hammered worldwide today as oil dropped below $27 a barrel. It was $145-$147 in 2008. The Dow Jones average was off 541 points at 12:30 p.m. but the loss was cut to 249.28 or -1.56% by the close.

Apollo Education Group, the for-profit higher education juggernaut behind the University of Phoenix, has engaged Brunswick Group for PR as it pursues "strategic alternatives" that could include a sale of the publicly traded company.

Ally Financial and Lion Point Capital have engaged PR counsel as the hedge fund makes a bid for two seats on the board of the former auto-lending unit of General Motors bailed out in the 2008 financial crisis.